Lulu and the Asteroid of 100% Guaranteed Doom

Lulu and the Asteroid of 100% guaranteed Doom starts out giving a very cute first impression. I mean, of course, there's the title, but there's also Lulu the cat following you around royally, especially for a cat. Well, okay, the tutorial has you feed her among other things at the start (it's done rather well--a variety of relatively simple things and make sure that you have them nailed down and even a mention that you can abbreviate some commands) but it gives the impression of a "my house with an adventure with a silly twist later" sort of thing. Also, I thought it was well-done how the two things you found in the fridge are used in almost opposite ways to deal with NPCs you meet.

There's nothing too difficult in Lulu, as you find out about the asteroid that's likely to strike the Earth, and worse, Lulu finds a new crack in your basement and ... jumps in. Hearing no THUD, you investigate. And from here the map sprawls a bit. Certainly when I looked at it, I was intimidated. Was this really a good fit for TALP? Well, it worked out okay in the end, but I can see how people may be put off. There is a big reveal at the end, and there's a story to go with. The main reason I was able to figure what to do was, I'd find a blocker and look at my inventory and realize, okay, item X in my inventory needs to do something.

The puzzles are wide-ranging, though I'm not sure if they really cohere. In general you look to find nonviolent solutions to get past bad guys, and you also want to help the good guys. For instance, you rescue a rabid merchant from a dog, and they help you fix an item, which you use to sort-of befriend but eventually dismantle another villain. Which is cute, but then there's a logic puzzle that gives a few clues to ask how to rank which metals go in which forges, from warm to super-hot. It's an odd swerve, and it feels a bit like busy work. The in-game graphics also didn't gel for me. I think they were generated by AI, and they give the feel of trying to be impressive, except the game's tone is not impressive, especially with some of the sillier puzzles. While things do take a serious turn with spells you need, the melodrama in the image distracted me from the writing, and from other concerns, like "Why does Lulu disappearing for stretches?" I mean, beyond moving the plot along to make you explore the map and find her. Some of this is rather cute, where she is cowering in fear. The full in-world reason explained at the end, and I found it adequate. In the meantime she helps you in a few combats.

So Lulu is not perfect but I'm a bit surprised it placed as low as it did, even if there were strong games ahead of it, and the rating gap between it and the entry below it was higher than it and what was above. At times it goes together smoothly, and other times it feels a bit helter-skelter. Yet it's relatively welcoming, and I enjoyed the time I spent with it, even if I needed a map the second time through to make it through quickly and check off on things for this review.